Sonic is back everybody, with the help of some little friends!
The point in my opinion of this game for Sega was to be innovative, and try new things. So they went back to the DS, where they have had most of their sucess in recent years. From additions like the Wisps and a Versus mode, to the dramatic improvement of sound, there is NO DOUBT that this is the greatest Sonic game to come in recent years.
The basic plot of the game is that Dr. Eggman makes an amusement park, and OF COURSE, it has it's evil purposes. There are also some evil robots (Cubot and Orbot), but let's just say they aren't as smart as Dr. Eggman, or most in general. In addition, you have to save the cute, little Wisps, that Dr. Eggman has trapped. There are six parks, with two acts and one boss battle in each. There are also two missions in each, but they are just a side-quest for anyone looking to complete this game 100%.
This game takes some cut-scene movies, but they are all of outstanding quality, and are all a pleasure too watch. In these movies, everything looks like they are from real life - that is how good the quality of these are. There are also some cut-scenes that are not movies, which have a very nice stationary backgrounds and character designs. Otherwise for the actual game itself, the graphics are pretty good, if not great. Most things look like Sonic in its past (the good past).
The sound of this game is absolutely incredible. It even shows in the credits with all of the musicians they have (seriously just look up Sonic Colors DS credits if you want to see). The background music is GREAT. Also, in the cut-scene movies, the voice acting is stellar. Everything falls in place. But in the normal cut-scenes, there is a lack of voice acting, and the voice acting there is, are little noises. These include the Wisps' noises whenever they talk, and an occasional sound effect by Sonic, Sonic's friends, Eggman, Cubot, and Orbot. But to make up for the lack of voice acting in cut-scenes, the music in the special stages is really good and pumps me up / gets me excited for the game.
The Wisps are EVERYTHING to this game, This is the real reason this game is so great. The new Wisp you unlock after every world makes the game much more fun because they all have different abilities and let you explore each level a little bit more with what the Wisps unlock. The controls are extremely basic and fun too, just like every Sonic game true to its routes. The Versus mode is also very fun, even when playing against the CPU. The Special Stages don't fall far behind either, with the Time Attack being okay.
There is not much difficulty in this game, except for some of the later levels. The boss fights are fairly simple once you know what to do (I beat one in around 23 seconds, and have gotten a S on all of them with ease). This leads up to a story that is not even close to being long enough as I had hoped for. In addition, the Missions are pretty much just throw-aways, unless you really want to complete the game 100%. Going back to the difficulty, some are very hard, where some are push-overs and are extremely simple.
The story will keep you hooked until the end, however the end isn't too far away from the beginning. But trying to get a S on everything, getting all red stars, and spending tons of time on Versus Mode, will make this game much more ever-lasting. And you can never forget just messing around with the AWESOME WIsps to see what happens.
Presentation: 8.0
Graphics: 8.5
Sound: 9.5
Gameplay: 9.0
Lasting Appeal: 8.0
FINAL SCORE: 8.5